


Kitchen Accidents

by diamondforger



Series: Whumptober 2020 [10]
Category: Kamen Rider Ghost
Genre: Improper Knife Safety, M/M, Minor Injuries, Post-Canon, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:35:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26862997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondforger/pseuds/diamondforger
Summary: It's the little things about being alive that always catch Takeru off guard as he struggles to readjust.
Relationships: Alain/Tenkuuji Takeru
Series: Whumptober 2020 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945867
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Kitchen Accidents

**Author's Note:**

> No 10. THEY LOOK SO PRETTY WHEN THEY BLEED
> 
> **Blood Loss** | Internal Bleeding | Trail of Blood

There were so many things to adjust to when it came to being alive. Having to actually remember where doors were because he couldn't walk through walls anymore. Needing to remember to eat _before_ he got lightheaded and nearly passed out. Remembering that people could see him and see him all the time, even when he was feeling low. 

Those were all fine. Annoying, but Takeru didn't mind them much. He was so grateful to be alive again that he wasn't going to complain about the little inconveniences of being human. 

They were also the obvious things. Things he knew he'd have to deal with. The things that really tripped him up when he didn't even realize he'd changed the way he'd done something in death until it was too late. 

Like when he made a mistake in the kitchen. He hadn't even realized he'd given up basic knife safety when he was dead. Mundane injures faded and closed before they could even be painful when he'd been a ghost. Somewhere along the way he'd forgotten that knives could actually be dangerous. 

He didn't even pause to think about the way he was holding the apple in his hand as he cut into it. There hadn't been as much resistance as he'd expected and the knife sliced through the whole fruit and into the palm of his hand. He flinched, dropping both fruit and knife to the floor, but it didn't hurt. There was no blood and for a moment he relaxed. It looked like he'd lucked out and the knife hadn't been sharp enough to pierce skin. 

He reached down to pick up his snack from the ground, only to feel warm dampness on his palm and felt something trickling down his fingers. 

He'd judged the situation too soon. It'd been so long since he injured himself, he'd forgotten how human bodies worked. How they felt, how they bled. He'd forgotten about the strange moment between the moment of injury and when the blood starting flowing. 

The cut did hurt now that the intial shock was over, but Takeru wasn't bothered by it. He'd been in much worse pain in battle, and he found himself distracted, turning his palm over to examine the red that was leaking out of his body. 

It'd been over a year since he'd bled. Even before death, he hadn't injured himself often and he'd rarely thought about it. But now, he felt kind of grateful for it. Seeing evidence of his life pouring out, covering his palm and running down his wrist, it was strangely gratifying. 

He got so lost in staring at the blood, that he didn't hear someone else enter the kitchen behind him. 

"Takeru! What happened?" 

Takeru jumped as Alain grabbed his hand and pressed a hand towel against the wound. A red stain spread across the cloth and all Takeru could think to say was, "Careful, it's really hard to get blood stains out."

Alain looked up at him in confusion, as he continued putting pressure on the wound, Takeru winced. There was the pain. It'd taken a bit to hit, but the shock of touching another human made him realize that his hand really did hurt and the pain wasn't just going to fade this time. 

"Sorry, I was being stupid with a knife," Takeru said. He tried to tug his hand away from Alain casually, but the man kept a firm grip on it, "I'll clean up the mess."

"No," Alain said. One of his hands was still pressed against the bloodied towel and the other came to Takeru's shoulder, guiding him the nearest chair. Takeru let himself be led, trying not to react too much to the touch. 

That was another new thing about life. Every sense was heightened. Well, he supposed it was that every sense had been dulled by death. It didn't matter really, death had been his norm. Now that he'd returned every touch was overwhelming. 

"Keep putting pressure on it," Alain said as he pushed Takeru into the chair, "I'm getting the first aid kit."

Takeru nodded. He pressed against his palm as Alain moved away. The pain wasn't horrible, but it was strong enough to make tears prick at his eyes. He still wasn't used to crying. It felt like everything made him cry these days. Every single feeling and emotion was new and dramatic and often he found tears forming in his eyes despite him not feeling upset. 

He didn't have to wait long before Alain was back with a first aid kit. The man knelt in front of Takeru, taking his hands again. It was enough to make Takeru blush despite himself. He'd done the same thing for Alain when the he was learning to be mortal. The prince had multiple accidents before he grew accustomed to his new body and Takeru had ending up teaching him a lot of first aid. None of it had felt strange then, so why did it now? 

Maybe it was the reversal. A prince on his knees in front of Takeru, holding his hand gently as he examined the wound. Maybe it was that Takeru hadn't felt desire for anyone in death. He'd sensed Alain's interest in him, and ignored it. Now it would seem the situation was reversed. 

"It's shallow," Alain said, pulling out a roll of gauze, "We don't need to go to the hospital, right?" Alain looked up questioningly, a bit of hair falling in his eyes. 

Takeru shook his head, feeling his face grow even warmer. Alain nodded and continued patching up the injury. He was delicate and steady, unbothered by the fact Takeru's hand was shaking. 

Takeru couldn't understand why his body was acting like this. All Alain was doing was holding his hand steady, but Takeru's heart was pounding and there was an ache in his chest. He wanted more. He wanted to know if Alain's hands were always this gentle. 

"That should hold it," Alain said, turning Takeru's hand back and forth and he examined the bandage, "At least for a bit. I'll redo it tonight and make sure everything's fine."

"I can handle it," Takeru tried pulling his hand away, but Alain still wasn't done. 

Now he'd picked up a wet wipe and was cleaning dried blood off Takeru's fingers. "Here I thought we were done with stubbornly refusing help," he said with a smirk. 

"It's not a big deal." Takeru squirmed under the attention. He'd almost forgotten that he was ticklish. It was hard to sit still when Alain moved to clean the blood that'd dripped down Takeru's wrist. The area was weirdly oversensitive and Takeru couldn't tell if he it was because he was ticklish or for less pure reasons. Hopefully just the former. "It was my mistake, I can clean it up."

"I want to do this for you." Alain looked up as he finished his work, a mischievous smile on his face. He looked so comfortable kneeling in front of Takeru, clearly aware of how the situation was effecting him. Which was only making him even more flustered. 

"You don't owe me," he said quickly. 

"It's not about owing." Alain's fingers traced up Takeru's wrist slowly. Such a small gesture, but it made Takeru melt. "I want this. Do you?"

Takeru swallowed hard as Alain's fingers traced even farther up his arm, slipping under his sleeve. The answer was yes, wasn't it? Why was that so hard to say? Takeru opened his mouth, taking a deep breath and...

"What happened?" Both men jolted apart as Akari's panicked yell broke them out of the moment. "Why is there blood on the floor?" asked, looking between the two of them. "Who's hurt?" 

Takeru jumped to his feet, reassuring her that he was fine. He could see Alain scrambling to clean the blood off the kitchen floor as Akari fussed over his bandaged hand. Takeru didn't mind the fussing. He knew how to handle Akari's over protectiveness a lot better than he knew how to handle Alain's flirting. 

As she jumped into a lecture about knife safety, Alain skirted around the two of them, pausing to whisper in Takeru's ear, "You look like you need some time to think about it. We can talk tonight, when I come over to redo that bandage."


End file.
